Monday OCT 22nd

we were supposed to move in to our new boarding... but we didn't. so we kinda didn't do much. I regret that. hahaha

Tuesday OCT 23rd

Today was great. we tried to teach Mpho but her dad wasn't home so we rescheduled. we taught Landwe the first half of the restoration. Rebecca and Jane and so forth. good day. I'm tired. When we visited Landiwe she owns a tuck shop so people usually come and buy stuff during lessons. but this time a huge group of kids came to the front door and asked to see the white guy... so a group of about 15 kids came in and said hi:) they were cute! hahahaha

Wednesday OCT 24th

MOVING DAY. we finally got a new boarding in Virginia so now we don't have to drive 30 minutes to the area each day. we Don't have all our stuff yet so were gonna sleep in Riebeekstad one more night and then move the rest over tomorrow.

we were able to have an appointment with the Senoge family. Brother Pitso used to be a branch president and his son has served a mission, the others about to matriculate, and the youngest is 12, his name is chief. Chief hasn't been baptized yet. yes his dad is branch president and his son hasn't been baptized yet. Pitso doesn't push people to get baptized so his son never asked. Chief hasn't enjoyed missionaries in the passed and never wanted to take the discussions. However, on Sunday we stopped by to say goodbye to Brother Chaka, and Chief was playing Grand theft Auto. I was shocked. so I taught him all the Cheat codes I know and He lit up and was the happiest I've ever seen him. so happy that he had no problem when we asked if we could teach him! so today we did and it was great! He understood really well. He knew all the principles so when we put them all in order it all clicked for him! No he's excited to get baptized!

Thursday OCT 25th TWO YEARS A MISSIONARY

1st Thandeka the JW- she is very frustrating. When went to visit her today we brought Taphelo and she refused to let us go over the Restoration until we told her that Gods name is Jehovah. which it's not. So we asked "who created the Heavens and the Earth?" 

"Jehovah." she responded

we said yes then we read Hebrews 1:2 which says that The Son created it by the power of the father.

so we told her Jesus Christ is Jehovah the God of the old testament and she was very set on that not being true. so we read just a few verses down, Hebrews 1:8, and we asked why god refers to the Son as God. But the entire time she just kept making us mad telling us why we cant pray before we share a lesson so we read a verse in Luke 21:36 that says we should pray ALWAYS. she wasn't buying it. 

turns out she's not a Jehovah's witness but I think she's been taking their discussions and have been teaching her Loads of false doctrine. 

2nd Brother Mhlahlo- he's good. we asked if he could give sister Landiwe a ride to church we taught her on Tuesday and she said she wants to come for my final sunday on mission.

3rd Skhambani- YES.

4th Rebecca and Jane- they are doing great we taught them about the Word of Wisdom and they were happy. all good all good. they invited us on saturday for some traditional food so they can say goodbye:)

5th Boi.- the crazy culuh-d. she lives in welkom but heard that I'm leaving and requested to sign my journal. so we dropped it off and took a few pictures!

6th- dropped off Thapelo 

Friday OCT 26th TWO YEARS IN AFRICA

well I had to go pic up my journal from Boibelo before she left and then I went and looked at sotho blankets and we found the cheapest place to buy sotho blankets!!! I was excited so I bought one or two or four or six and you'll see them when I get home:)

we taught Landiwe today and finished the plan of salvation and she wants to come to church. I hope she can!

then we picked up thando senoge for a lesson, in which we got bunked. shame.

Saturday OCT 27th BORROWED TIME

today was very hot. and it was hard to stay motivated in the heat when everyone bunks you. eish. We worked hard and we followed up on a man we tracted in to named Stan. He's super cool! And we also taught Chief Senoge. He's excited about his baptism and wants to serve a mission! I told him to send me pictures and keep me updated on life! He's cool!

we also got our transfer news just now. I will be going home!!! Woop woop! and elder Zimunhu is going to get elder Jeri. He's so excited because they're from the same stake in Zimbabwe and Elder Jeri only has 6 weeks left so Zimunhu will stay for 12 weeks here!

Sunday OCT 28th FINAL SUNDAY

today was awesome!! some people signed my journal after church and we took tons of pictures!! it was awesome! and it was the primary presentation and it was adorable!!

I love this Branch and I'm really excited to hear when it becomes a ward and when Virginia becomes it's own branch as well:) 

Monday Oct 29th

plan to go to a game park and say goodbye to people.

and party it up!

Tuesday OCT 30th

pack up and hopefully go see leo!

Wednesday OCT 31st

Final interview with President Thompson

Final dinner at the mission home with the homies

Thursday NOV 1st

Im not sure about the morning but my plain leaves at 5:00.

Friday NOV 2nd

flying. I will be home at 12:00 Pacific time! WOOP WOOP!!

then I'll give ya'll your gifts and what not... Lunch at Taco Bell?

6:00 - meeting with stake president

7:00 - Banks Playoff game

Saturday NOV 3rd

racquetball or something in the morning! not sure what the plan is from there? 

Elder Merritt Signing off one last time! 

I love you:)

MORE PICTURES SOON!

Getting close to coming home!

Well... bad news.. we locked the keys in the boarding so were emailing while we wait for the locksmith.... he said he'd be here at 1.... now its 4... and he stopped picking up his phone... shame.

but \I love you all and \'ll email you next week.... and then only one more after that! :)

SO CLOSE!

Monday 8th - Sunday 14th

Well last week all of my stuff was deleted so that was a shame.. but either way I'll give you a quick summary.

General conference was AMAZING and Holland had too much Swag with those glasses. We've still been doing a lot of finding and teaching but where we work there's a High school and all the kids are in awe at the fact that a White kid is walking around the Township. they keep Yelling LEHOA, which means "White man". the other day I swear all of the community was chanting in sync "LE-HOO-AHH LE-HOO-AH LE-HOO-AH" as we were walking in to an appointment. Even when we were in the house teaching we could all still hear everyone yelling! I couldn't stop laughing! Sotho's are crazy!

However, last week we bought a Skhambani in the same area and while we were walking to the car the high schoolers all came back. It was a huge group of girls, so right away I was uncomfortable. but it gets WORSE. there was a gay kid in the midst of them and he stepped forward and started blowing kisses and sayin all this sotho stuff that I don't understand. Elder Zimunhu was laughing but I wanted to run. we stayed calm and continued to eat our skhambani's and ignored them... I thought they'd lose interest if I gave them zero recognition but they DIDN'T. This pack of girls and their gay captain followed me all the way to the car. 15 minutes of that awkwardness floated around us both. worst experience of my life.

Monday October 15th

well... today sucked. we got locked out of the boarding because I went to the car. I assumed Zim would grab the Keys and he thought I grabbed them so he locked us out. Shame.

so when we wanted to leave the Complex we didn't have the clicker... so we talked to the neighbours and they let us out... then the senior couples suggested we get a locksmith. so we went in to town and found a guy who knew a guy. we called the guy he knew and he said he'd be to our place at 1:00 15 minutes from the time we called him). so we hurried home and started to wait for him. luckily elder Nu'usa let me borrow his football so that kept Zim and I busy for a while... 1:00 went by.. then 1:30, 2:00, 2:30... so I called him again. He said to give him just 30 minutes and he'd be there. 3:00 went by, 3:30, 3:45, so I called him a thousand more times and he didn't answer. so we drove to an email shop and googled a better locksmith than this guy. we called the other locksmith and they were to our house in just 20 minutes!!! he was cool, opened right up and we were good to go!

but by then our day was basically finished...

Tuesday October 16th

today was nice, we had a few appointments. then we needed to drive Elder Macapella and Walker to Bethlehem because we have zone conference tomorrow and interviews with President tonight.

when we arrived at their boarding, we saw Elder Macapella standing there on the inside of the electric gate ith his hands in his pockets. so we yelled "open up". then he shrugged his arms and said "my companion has the gate key"

"Then go get him!!"

"He went to the store.." he responded, ".. to get medicine"

Powerful. elder Zimunhu slapped is forehead. that pretty much sums up their entire time being together this transfer... poor guys.

but we waited for walker to get back, I gave Macapella a muffin and took a few deep breaths. but it was all good.

we had a two hour car ride of listening to elder Macapella and Zimunhu talk about racism and I learned that elder Zimunhu does not like it when people have different opinions than him... plus he's super racist. Luckily I stayed out of it.

When we got to Bethlehem I mostly hung out wit Nu'usa and hyer. they are both amazing and we're good friends! then My interviews with President were pretty funny! haha he's a cool guy!

Wednesday (Final Zone Conference) October 17th

well Zone conference was really good! I was the last speaker and I gave a lesson about Adversity. Yo. It was a tough topic to speak about, just because it was super emotional. I didn't prepare too much.. My otes read "Bear testimony, James 3, don't cry"

but I cried so much. I'm not gonna Lie, it was the best talk I have personally given. that's not saying too much, I'm not too good at public speaking but still! I was happy. and sister Thompson gave me some really good complements:) she was crying too, which made me cry even more! dang it!

After Zone conference we played a quick game of football then I drove the PJ missionaries Home! so I stopped by and said goodbye to President Moeta and Lesego's family! I would've said by to more but time was short!

then we drove alllll the way home. It was just Zim, me and Ntaka. tomorrows our exchange with the AP's.

we almost died when a semi tried to pass another semi in front of us, but I've played Grand theft auto and Avoided it. all is well in Zion.

Thursday - Exchanges with Ntaka - October 18th

well well well. today was a typical day of teaching frustrating Jw's and pastors that want to bash. we found a HUGE marijuana plant in someone front yard and Ntaka ad I did the 2 liter Ice Cream challenge... we also both failed.

good day.

Saturday October 20th

well today was actually pretty good until a guy named Cosmo ticked me off! haha

we helped clean the chapel, then got distracted with a soccer ball that we found, then we went to a elder quorum activity/Braai it was dope. tons of meat.

that's where I met Cosmo, he used to be a powerful active member but now he says he doesn't believe in God. That's about when he starter talking nonsense and when I wanted to leave. but I'm happy he came

Sunday October 21st

well today Brother Beldin asked me to say goodbye to the Branch because Next week I won't be able to because it's the Primary Presentation. So I did:)

also, Tsepho (Babe's) Chaka is going to be out of town this week so I had to say Goodbye to him after church, we took some pictures and he Signed my journal. also he gave me a Super Nice Sweater That I saw him wearing a few weeks ago and complimented him on!!! He's super cool! I'm gonna miss his place!

One more week.